Welcome to Oblivion
by Rynxenvy
Summary: The Organization took her in when she had nowhere else to go, it was only fair that she complied with their rules and helped them attain Kingdom Hearts. When she runs into a vaguely familiar face, perhaps from her past? She begins to question whether what she's doing is right or whether she should leave with this stranger and forge her own path.
1. Chapter 1

She stood shakily, leaning against the wall of a massive skyscraper for support as the rain pelted down relentlessly, soaking through her clothing in an instant. Staring into the dark window of the building was a young girl with layered tresses of grey-blue hair that came down to her shoulders accompanied by a set of dark amethyst eyes and small pink lips. Her outfit consisted of a ruffled skirt in purple and pink layers and a corset-like shirt colored black with purple lace. Her appearance was of little importance to her, what she really wanted to know was her name. She couldn't remember.

In fact, she couldn't remember anything from before this moment. How had she arrived in this dark city? Who was she? Did she have a family—were they looking for her? So many questions jumped around in her head, she was unsure where to even begin looking for answers.

The sky above was dark and ominous, lit occasionally by a flash of lightning accompanied by a clap of thunder. The city was illuminated by various neon signs but from what she could see there seemed to be no sign of life indicating that another soul inhabited this strange place other than herself. She was completely alone.

Or so she thought.

Suddenly the image reflected on the window of the skyscraper became distorted, when it cleared there was a tall, hooded figure standing beside her. She couldn't make out any distinguishing features but was almost certain that the being was male from his height and broad shoulders though his face was hidden.

She wasn't sure whether she should have felt fear towards this newcomer, the teen turned around to face him.

For a moment he was silent and she almost thought that he wasn't going to say anything at all and instead just stare at her awkwardly until she walked away. But then his gloved fingers rose from his side, grasping the fabric of his hood and throwing it back to reveal a tan angular face, a shock of silver hair, and a piercing golden gaze. He was strange and intimidating all at once.

"You seek purpose, dear child, do you not?" His voice was deep, commanding, and held an air of superiority.

The teen wasn't sure what she was looking for, maybe she did need a purpose in life, she sure as hell didn't know. Her amethyst gaze met his unwavering golden stare, "I guess so."

Though her answer was laced with uncertainty that was all the stranger needed to hear.

A chilling smirk tugged at the corners of his lips, "I am Xemnas and I am here to offer you a position in my Organization that will not only give you a sense of purpose but comradery as well."

She picked up on the vagueness of his explanation, noting that he failed to mention what being a part of this 'organization' entailed. She wasn't convinced and that must have been portrayed in the skeptical look painted on her face.

"You wish to know more." It was a statement, to which she nodded her head, "We are a group of like minded individuals who are working towards a common goal of becoming whole again by gaining back the hearts that we lost."

Now she was lost.

"Lost hearts?" She repeated, confused.

Xemnas chuckled, "You and I are beings known commonly as Nobodies. We are the husks of a human who fell to darkness. Organization XIII's goal is to complete Kingdom Hearts, which is a powerful entity that will grant us all hearts so that we may become human once more."

His explanation certainly seemed a little eccentric and she was about to thank him for his time and turn him down gently when the words he spoke next caught her attention.

"Do you remember your name?"

Her amethyst eyes widened.

"I thought not."

Before her several letters appeared midair, _Ak-,_ they began to swirl around quickly before she had the chance to read what they had said. An 'x' dropped down from the sky and intertwined with the pre-existing letters to form a new name.

"Ki…axi?"

Whether this was her true name or not she really didn't know, it was rather frustrating not being able to recall a single detail about her life before this moment in time.

"Will you accept my proposal?" His eyes bore into her expectantly.

Kiaxi realized that she didn't really have anything to lose, at least this way she would have a place to stay until she figured out what had happened to her, so she nodded her head, "Yeah, why not."

"Excellent." His lips pulled back into a smug grin as he lifted his right arm from his side and held it out in front of him.

Suddenly a swirling portal of darkness appeared before the two, "After you."

She frowned, staring at the dark gateway with slight trepidation and momentarily wondering if it was even safe. Kiaxi glanced over her shoulder at Xemnas who seemed to look a little impatient waiting for her, so she quickly shuffled inside and stared in awe at the myriad of colors churning in the darkness around her.

She was so caught up in her wonderment over the swirling colors around her that she almost didn't notice Xemnas brush past her and it took her a few moments to catch up to him and his long strides. It wasn't a long journey, which she was thankful for because this walk through the darkness with Xemnas was awkward enough. Soon, the duo arrived at their destination and stepped out into a bright, white hallway.

The young Nobody stared in awe at her surroundings before casting a somewhat amused glance in Xemnas' direction. This place was too clean and sterile to be this dark man's hideout, she was almost expecting him to turn around and say 'just kidding, let's go to my _real_ lair' but he didn't.

They paused in front of a large closed door, Xemnas cast a glance over his shoulder at her, "I will go in first, you will follow after shortly." With that he disappeared into another portal of darkness, leaving her standing alone in front of the tall ivory door wondering what she had gotten herself into. Did she make a mistake in accepting the strange man's offer?

She wasn't sure how long she was expected to wait outside of the door, was he going to give her some sort of sign to signal her to come in or was she supposed to just enter? He had told her to follow after him though, had she waited long enough? Kiaxi made up her mind, raising her hand to grasp the chilled handle of the door before her and pushing it open.

The room she stepped into was equally as white and sterile looking as the hallway had been, it was a circular room with thirteen high-rise seats all situated around the room at various heights, each one of them occupied by a cloaked being. In the center of the circle, seated in the tallest chair, was Xemnas himself staring down at her with a smirk, making her shrink back a little.

"Who's the chick?" Her head swiveled to find the owner of the voice, the man looked a little older than most of the beings sitting around her. His hair was salt and peppered, tied back in a ponytail, a black eyepatch covering his right eye caught her attention before her gaze drifted to the long, jagged scar on his left cheek. He was leaning forward in her seat, staring down at her with an almost predatory grin and she realized that the majority of the Organization members around her had similar looked plastered on their faces.

"Our newest Organization member, Number XIV, Kiaxi."

This revelation was met with mixed feelings from the group—some were interested in the newest member to their ranks while others seemed perturbed and shot her scathing glares. She tried to ignore the looks she was receiving, focusing on what Xemnas was saying instead.

"Like Number XIII, she will be spending time with each of your for her first few months here or at least until she is able to go on missions alone."

Her gaze met that of the only other female in the entire group. She had golden blonde hair slicked back with two long hair antennae sticking out of the top of her head and electric greenish-blue eyes that were narrowed into a glare. Kiaxi hoped that she wouldn't have to spend one on one time with her, she didn't seem all that friendly.

"For the next few days I would like for you to show our newest member the ropes, Roxas." Xemnas' golden gaze landed on a blonde haired boy who didn't seem all that enthused about showing her around but despite that he looked a lot more friendly than half of the other members of Organization XIII so she counted her lucky stars for that one.

The blonde, Roxas, nodded his head and with that Xemnas dismissed the group to their own devices. Portals of darkness fizzled and popped into existence as most of the group disappeared from the round room, including Roxas. She felt a small wave of panic rise within her at being left completely alone until a portal opened before her and outstepped Roxas, he offered her a small smile.

"I'm sure this is a lot to take in." He started before frowning, "You're soaked."

"I guess I am." She mumbled quietly, peering down at her disheveled and sopping clothing the clung tightly to her body.

The boy before her let out a soft sigh, "C'mon, I'll take you to get your uniform and then show you to your room so you can change into something dry. If you get sick you'll be useless to the Organization."

Something told her that she didn't ever want to be considered useless to Xemnas and his cause and she vowed right there to do everything she could to remain in his good graces.

Suddenly a second portal of darkness sprung to life in front of her and she took a step back to avoid being knocked over by the boy that stepped out of the swirling shadows. He was rather thin with bright turquoise eyes that shown brightly, matching the excited grin plastered on his face. Kiaxi couldn't stop staring at his hair though, wondering why this boy would _willingly_ choose to sport a mullet out of all possible hairstyles.

"Yo!" He waved, his bright smile was contagious and she found her own lips twitching at the corners, "I'm Demyx, it's nice to see another friendly face around here—you _are_ friendly, right?"

"I…yeah." She answered awkwardly.

"I knew it, I'm an excellent judge of character." He beamed, ignoring the skeptical look that Roxas shot his way, "Well, anyway, I better get going. It was nice to meet you, if you ever need anything I'm number IX feel free to stop by any time!" With another wave he disappeared back into his portal and it was just Roxas and Kiaxi once again.

"He was…" She started slowly, not sure of the word she was searching for.

The blond seemed to understand what she was thinking, however, "Yeah, that's Demyx; he's an odd one alright." As if suddenly remembering their previous mission Roxas motioned for her to follow him as he led her down the hallway and taking a series of twists and turns.

The girl realized that the castle was much larger than she had originally anticipated, and she was almost certain that she would find herself lost in no time once left to her own devices. Kiaxi did her best to pay attention to her surroundings as Roxas lead the way but everything looked exactly the same that she just couldn't keep track.

They stopped before a closed door that she almost hadn't noticed as it blended in with the white of the walls pretty well. He stood there and awkwardly gestured towards the door, "Well, have at it. While you're in there grab a coat, some undershirts, pants, and a pair of boots in your size. I'll be here if you need me."

She nodded her head and ducked inside, closing the door behind her before staring in awe at the long racks of hanging black coats, neatly folded black pants, and the shelves of black under shirts and combat boots. Hesitantly, Kiaxi shuffled forward and reached for one of the coats that was closest to her. It fell off the hanger with ease and toppled down on top of her, she held it out in front of her and noticed, with a frown, that the material dragged against the floor—it was much too big for her to comfortably wear.

With a groan she stood on her tip-toes to put the coat back on the hanger. She didn't even know what size she was and everything, for the most part, looked that same.

Almost ten minutes had passed before she heard a light knock on the door followed by Roxas' muffled voice behind it asking, "Hey, uh, you almost done in there?"

She let out a small, nervous laugh, "Honestly? It would be so much easier if I didn't have to sift through everything to try and find something that might fit me."

He sighed and opened the door enough for him to slip inside, striding over to one of the cloak racks and sifting quickly through it until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a coat and held it up to her, "Try it on." Kiaxi did as she was told and zipped it up, staring down at herself and then angling her head so that she could see how it looked from behind.

"How'd you know my size?" She gave him a skeptical look.

He shrugged, "Well, you're pretty small so I just went to the next size under mine."

She stayed quiet and just nodded, it made sense after all as he did seem to be one of the shorter members of the Organization from what she had seen of the others in the Round Room and she was just a tad smaller than him in stature. Now that she had her coat she quickly strode over to the other racks and pulled a couple small tank-tops and short sleeved shirts from the pile, holding them up in front of herself to gauge whether they'd fit her. Once satisfied with the shirts she stuffed them under her arm and picked through the shelf that held the pants, thankfully all sorted by size.

After another few moments of indecisive silence, Roxas strode over to her and grabbed a couple from the middle of the rack, "I'm only guessing here, but I'm going to say that these should work. If I'm wrong you can always come back down here and sort through them whenever." He shrugged as he shoved the pairs of black form fitting pants into her arms.

Lastly, she needed to pick a pair of boots which only took a few moments to find her correct size after comparing the boots to the shoes she was currently wearing. With her arms full of her new wardrobe, Kiaxi turned on her heels and followed Roxas out of the Clothing Ward.

"Alright, I'll show you to your room now and let you get settled in." He was already partly down the hallway and she had to sprint to catch back up with him.

As she rounded a corner she felt herself collide with another body and she fell, unceremoniously, to the floor, her clothing lay scattered around her. Assuming that it was Roxas who she had bumped into, Kiaxi rubbed her sore behind before frowning, "You didn't have to wait for me, I'm more than capable of catching up on my own." Her amethyst eyes trailed up the figure and she quickly realized that it definitely was _not_ Roxas. The man was tall and lithe looking with a head of perfectly feathered pastel pink locks and menacing dark eyes that narrowed down on her.

In an instant his hand was wrapped around her throat, pinning her against the tiled floor beneath her. Despite his rather feminine appearance he was rather terrifying.

"It'd be in your best interest to watch where you're going next time." His smooth voice came out in a deadly whisper, "The Organization doesn't have time to babysit incompetent children. Watch yourself or your next mistake will surely be your last." His grip around her throat tightened.

Kiaxi narrowed her eyes, finding her voice once again, "Excuse me, but who are you to be making such threats? Last I checked Xemnas was in charge and he chose me to join for a reason, I-I don't think he'd be too pleased to hear the things you've just said to me." His grip on her throat had caused her to cough a few times but she felt that she got the message across.

He let out a feral growl and pushed off of her so that he was in a standing position, Kiaxi thought he was going to relent and leave so she began to pull herself to her feet when a flash of metal appeared in his hand. Just as quickly as it had appeared, the pink haired man had the tip of his scythe pressed against her throat, the sharp blade drawing a small trickle of blood as it pricked her tender flesh.

Roxas decided to intervene at this moment, he swatted at Marluxia's scythe with his Oathkeeper and the man, very reluctantly moved the blade away from her vitals.

"C'mon Kiaxi, I still have to show you to your room." He side-stepped the senior member and wrapped his fingers around her wrist to hoist her back up to her feet. Roxas shot a glare over his shoulder at Marluxia who in turn let out a ferocious growl and disappeared into a portal of darkness with a flip of his hair but not before leaving the two with his parting words.

"She's not worth the effort."

Roxas rolled his eyes before turning to face the newest member, offering her a lopsided smile, "Your social skills could use a little work."

She snorted, "No kidding."

She dusted herself off and collected the articles of clothing that had previously been strewn about haphazardously when she fell, "Who was that?"

"That was Marluxia. Don't take him too lightly, despite his appearance there is a reason why he's known as the Graceful Assassin." Roxas spoke evenly, "To be honest with you, you really don't want to get on the wrong side of any of the members here—most of them won't hesitate in eliminating you."

Kiaxi ran a hand through her damp slate-blue hair with her free hand before nodding, "Thanks for the heads up, I'll keep that in mind."

Roxas banished his weapon after realizing that he was still clutching it tightly and then reiterated, "Your room is just up ahead. Be sure to keep up this time."

She nodded quietly, taking long purposeful strides to keep up with the boy. He took her up a flight of stairs and then down a narrow hallway with doors lining either side of the hallway. She noticed that odd numbers were on the right while the even numbers faced them from across the way. Number XIV was located at the very end of the hallway, naturally.

The newest Nobody stared at the silver roman numerals engraved into the stark white door before turning back to face the blond.

"Well, here it is." He spoke almost awkwardly, "I'll let you get settled in and then I'll see you in the morning for the start of your training."

Confusion set in.

"Training?" She repeated.

"Well yeah, we have to figure out what your weapon is." Roxas then added thoughtfully, "As well as what element and less Nobodies you have control over."

Kiaxi bit her lip and frowned, "Sounds exhausting."

The blond Keyblade wielder shrugged, "It can be, just depends on how quickly you pick things up. Anyway, get some rest."

The boy turned on his heel and disappeared behind the doorway across the hall labeled XIII. A small sigh escaped her parted lips as she slowly turned back around and opened the door to her room. She wasn't sure what she had expected, the room was exactly as the rest of the castle had been—white and plain. There was a bed up against the wall, across from that was a large window where the heart-shaped moon could be seen shining brilliantly. There was a dresser in the corner of the room as well as another doorway that led to her own private bathroom.

Shuffling inside, making sure to close the door behind her, Kiaxi dumped her clothing on the floor and made a beeline for the bed. The feeling of fatigue crashed into her at full force and she all but fell right onto the mattress, still in her damp clothing, falling asleep almost instantly.

* * *

Well there's chapter one of Welcome to Oblivion! I actually started this particular story over 10 years ago (before I even started Wherever You Will Go) and it was before 358/2 days came out which is why I didn't originally include Xion in the story. I considered it this time around but then I figured that would be too much work to rework the ideas that I already had in my head for this story. So while I do believe that Xion played an important role she will not be appearing here.

If you liked the story so far please follow and leave a review! Thank you so much!


	2. Chapter 2

Kiaxi woke with a start early the next morning to find the sandy-blond haired Nobody from the night before sitting on the edge of her bed, staring at her with an excited grin plastered on his face.

"Good morning, Ki!" He sing-songed, his voice much too loud for the current time of day, making the girl wince and pull her pillow over her face. To be honest she wasn't sure what time it was, it could've been well into the afternoon for all she knew but she was still exhausted from the night before and just wanted a few more hours of sleep, uninterrupted.

Demyx didn't seem to take the hint that his presence was unwanted, however, "I thought I could give you a tour of the castle this morning before I head off to my mission. I know Roxas showed you a little last night, but I figured I could give you a more in depth tour so you won't get lost later on your own."

That was actually a really nice gesture. She lifted the corner of the pillow just enough so she could peak out at him to gauge whether he was being sincere in his offer. He was. Kiaxi pushed the pillow away from her and pulled herself into a sitting position, "Yeah, that sounds great. Let me just shower and get ready and then we can go?"

The boy nodded eagerly before hopping off of her bed, "Awesome! I'll be back in an hour for you." He gave her a slight wave before closing the bedroom door behind him as he left.

Kiaxi nodded, waving to him as he departed before letting a long drawn out sigh escape her parted lips. She stared down at herself and groaned, running a hand through her knotted blue-grey hair. She definitely needed a shower, the rain from the night before certainly didn't do her hair any good.

Pushing herself off of her mattress Kiaxi ambled towards the small bathroom attached to her room and was surprised to find it fully stocked with all sorts of bathroom and hygiene products. Grabbing what she'd need, Kiaxi quickly undressed, tossing her dirty clothes into the hamper in the corner by the door.

She stepped in to the bathtub and twisted the shower head, jumping as the water poured out as cold as ice over her body before slowly turning lukewarm and then finally a nice hot temperature. Kiaxi massaged the shampoo and then conditioner in to her slate-blue locks until it was sufficiently lathered and soapy before rinsing it, watching in mild fascination as the soap bubbles traveled down her arms and legs before being sucked down the drain. She picked up her foot and absently began to step on the clusters of bubbles, one by one popping them until they were all gone.

She spent quite some time in the shower, just letting the scalding water cascade over her pale skin before remembering that she had things to do. Her fingers found the knob that controlled the temperature and she twisted it all the way to the left, the water stopped immediately, and she found herself missing the warmth.

Goosebumps prickled beneath her pale skin as soon as she pulled the shower curtain aside, an involuntary shiver ran up her spine and she quickly glanced around to try and locate the towels. It took her a few moments of awkward fumbling before she found the linen closet and pulled out an extra thick towel. Once she finished wiping away the remnants of her shower she wrapped the damp towel around herself and pulled open the bathroom door to step out into her room and get dressed.

Startled amethyst eyes met with a pair of mortified sapphires.

"Roxas?" Her voice barely above a confused whisper, "What're you doing here?"

The spiky haired blond quickly averted his gaze, his cheeks burning bright crimson as he began to mumble something unintelligible.

Kiaxi tilted her head and quirked an eyebrow, "I'm sorry?"

The boy cleared his throat, still unable to meet her gaze, but was able to speak clearer this time, "I'm here to pick you up for training."

"Training?" She repeated slowly, confused. What did she need training for?

"Superior wants you to figure out what your weapon is today." Roxas turned swiftly on his heel and made a beeline for the door, "Meet me in the training room when you're ready."

As the door closed behind him with a resounding _click_ realization hit her like a ton of bricks as to why he had seemed so flustered and she felt her cheeks heat up, knowing that they must have been as red as his had been.

 _Well, maybe if people knocked around here instead of just barging in like they owned the place…_

Suddenly another thought struck her and she let out a loud, audible groan, "How am I supposed to even _find_ the training room?"

She dried herself off as best as she could, her hair was still damp but she would have to just deal with it and let it air dry, she didn't want to keep Roxas waiting. Her uniform lay scattered around her bedroom floor from the night before when she had just dumped them there in favor of sleep. She pulled on a grey sports bra before tugging a black tank top over her head, it was a little loose and the fabric bunched up at the bottom but it otherwise felt rather comfy. The black pants were form fitting but still breathable and hopefully would hold up during training. Lastly, she put on a pair of socks and shoved her feet into the black boots she had procured from the clothing ward the night before.

Kiaxi quickly ran a brush through her damp slate-blue hair to get rid of any knots and tangles that may have lingered from the night before. She cast a quick glance at her appearance in the mirror, the person staring back at her looked much different than the girl standing out in the rain the previous night.

Not wanting to waste anymore time, she made a beeline for the bedroom door and then stood out in the hallway, feeling a little flustered. Where the hell was the training room anyway? How did he expect her to find a place she had never been to? The thought was rather ridiculous, Roxas certainly hadn't thought this out thoroughly.

With a frustrated huff, she began to walk towards the end of the hallway and down the stairs. She knew that it wouldn't be on the same floor as everyone's bedrooms and she figured that if she had been the one to design the castle, logically speaking, she would have put the training room on the first floor. So that was where she was going to go and she hoped that she was at least a little close with her guess.

After a few minutes of aimlessly wandering, trying to find the next staircase that would bring her to the lower levels, she breathed out a groan. This castle was a lot more intimidating now that she was all by herself.

"Whoa, where's the fire, dudette?"

She spun around so quickly that she stumbled over her own feet but was able to quickly regain her composure. The man standing before her was the same salt and pepper haired Organization member who had spoken out in the Round Room the previous night. His lips were upturned as he shot her a knowing smirk.

"I, uh…" She was at a loss for words, remembering what Roxas had told her the previous night about the vicious nature of the rest of the Organization members. This man in particular looked like he had seen quite a few fights in his day, as evident by the jagged scar running down his cheek.

Sensing her unease, the man chuckled, "You're the new chick, right? Kiaxi, yeah? I'm Xigbar and if I'm not mistaken you look a little lost."

The cool sensation of relief flooding her system took over and she nodded vigorously, "I'm supposed to meet Roxas in the training room but no one's shown me where the damn thing is yet."

Xigbar let out another bark of laughter before motioning further down the hallway with his right hand, "Well, you were on the right path, kiddo. It's at the end of this hallway."

So her guess had been correct! She turned back around to thank him, only to find that he had already disappeared. A small frown tugged at the corners of her lips, "Someone needs to teach me that trick."

She ambled down the hallway that Xigbar had indicated, the closer she came to her destination the more nauseous she felt about having to train. She wasn't even sure what her training would entail or how she was supposed to figure out what her weapon was but regardless, the thought made her feel sick.

Her palm rested against the door for a moment, hesitant, before she swallowed the pooling of saliva in her mouth and pushed the door open.

"Well, look who decided to show up." Came a caustic voice. The perpetrator was a tall, lithe looking man with wild crimson spikes and narrowed emerald eyes. He was leaning against the wall to her right, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Yeah, sorry, got lost." She answered lamely, her amethyst eyes lingering on the man questioningly.

Roxas offered a small smile, "That's Axel."

"Got it memorized?" Axel added, his index finger pointing to his temple.

Kiaxi wanted to laugh at how ridiculous his catch phrase was but kept herself in check, despite his thin stature he had a rather dangerous air surrounding him that made her not want to get on his bad side.

The blond cleared his throat awkwardly, pushing himself off of the wall beside Axel and striding towards her, "You ready to start your training?" He tilted his head to the side, a bright light flashed in his right hand and when it dissipated in its place was a long metal object. It was a similar weapon as the one he had summoned before to get rid of Marluxia, but this one was much simpler in design, a long metal shaft with a golden hilt, the shape was reminiscent to that of a giant key.

The slate haired girl stumbled back a few steps in shock, eyeing his weapon warily. Roxas followed her line of sight and offered her a reassuring grin.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. This is just to see what type of weapon you have the power to summon, the actual training will wait for another day."

That did nothing to ease her mind and from the corner of her eye she could see Axel smirking deviously at her, his emerald eyes narrowed.

"Alright, enough chit-chat, get on with it." The flame-haired man groaned impatiently.

Roxas nodded, "Okay Kiaxi, let's try and summon your weapon first, you might be strong enough to be able to call upon it without provocation."

She had no idea what the hell he was talking about but humored him by nodding her head, closing her eyes and picturing—what was she supposed to see? Kiaxi didn't even know what type of weapon she was supposed to be summoning let alone _how_ to summon it!

She cracked open an eye to see an expectant Roxas staring back at her, "Er…how exactly do I summon my weapon?"

The red-haired pyromaniac began laughing at her expense, pushing himself away from the wall and took two long strides before he was beside her, still clutching at his sides from sheer amusement at her ignorance. He straightened himself out and smirked, "Just picture yourself being channeled in to another form, a more..." he waved his hands around to try and help him think of the word he was thinking of, when he couldn't find it he stretched his arms out and closed his eyes, in a flashing swirl of flames he had summoned two red and silver spiked chakrams.

"I…uh...okay." She swallowed the pooling of saliva in her mouth and closed her eyes once again, focusing on channeling her power, her essence, in to summoning her weapon. She scrunched up her face in concentration, why wasn't it working? It shouldn't be this hard! Another bout of laughter from Axel brought her out of her concentrated stupor, blinking pathetically at the two boys before her.

Roxas frowned, "Alright, I guess we'll have to go with plan B."

He crouched down in an attack stance, bringing his Keyblade up at the ready. Kiaxi didn't even have time to question what he was talking about before he rushed at her with his blade, swiping at her in a flurry of painful strikes. She skillfully dodged a total of-zero attacks. She landed on her bottom moments after his brief assault, groaning in pain while carefully watching him with wary eyes.

"What the hell was that? What happened to 'I won't hurt you'?" She growled, rubbing at her sore bottom.

Before Roxas could explain himself, Axel had pulled her up by the straps of her tank top, lifting her off the ground so that she was staring him straight in the eyes. He didn't look very happy.

"Don't you ever take that tone of voice with him, Roxas has been appointed your mentor for the duration of your time with the Organization and you will show him the respect that he deserves, newbie." He spat ferociously, his emerald eyes aflame in anger.

Roxas coughed awkwardly from behind his best friend, "Axel, give the poor girl a break."

Looking rather torn between giving Kiaxi a thorough beat down and respecting his best friend's wishes Axel let Kiaxi fall back to the rubber matting of the training room floor. She landed with an _oof_ and glared up at the crimson haired psychopath who matched her glare with one of his own.

"Sorry for not giving you a fair warning, but sometimes your weapon manifests itself when you're put in a dangerous situation where your very existence is threatened. So I was trying to simulate such a situation…" Roxas ran a gloved hand through his spiky blonde hair, unsure of what else he could possibly do to draw out her weapon.

"Let me." A smooth voice interjected from the doorway as another cloaked figure stepped forward.

Kiaxi immediately recognized him as the pink-haired flamboyant Marluxia from the night before, and if she recalled correctly he did not like her, not at all. Axel and Roxas both turned their attention to the new comer, each lifting a curious eyebrow at the Graceful Assassin.

"I'm not sure…Xemnas said.." Roxas started.

"Xemnas said that he wanted her to figure out how to summon her weapon, he didn't specify that it had to be _you_ who drew out the power of number XIV, just that it needed to be done." Marluxia drawled, smirking as he summoned the Graceful Dahlia and positioned himself across from Kiaxi in the offense, "Ready or not, _sweetheart_ , here I come."

This time Kiaxi was at least a little prepared for the onslaught of attacks being directed at her and was able to properly dodge out of the way of some of them. She was small and lithe enough to messily roll out of the way of a particularly fatal looking strike of his scythe, falling to the floor from the close call. Marluxia smirked down at her, giving off an air of superiority.

"Looks like Superior's new toy is defective," The cruel man chuckled, "perhaps we should dispose of it, she's no use to the Organization without a weapon."

Roxas rolled his eyes, "Don't be stupid, she's got a weapon she's just having trouble summoning it, don't be so quick to jump to conclusions Marluxia."

 _Shit. This is bad. Alright weapon, now would be a great time to manifest!_ She grit her teeth together, staring up at the looming figure of the feathery pink haired man as he shot her a predatory grin.

"Oh you absolutely wreak of fear," Marluxia let out a chilling laugh, "is it that you realized just how worthless you are to our cause?"

Kiaxi narrowed her eyes, her voice taunting, "Oh don't be silly, as if I could _ever_ be afraid of you, _Marly_."

She pulled her legs back and jutted them out quickly, kicking at the pink haired man so that he lost his balance, not anticipating her attack. Kiaxi scrambled to her feet in the split second that Marluxia was indisposed, running as fast as her short legs could carry her. Chancing a glance behind her she was sure that Marluxia would be hot on her tail but…he wasn't, he was nowhere to be seen- _oh shit!_ Kiaxi came to an abrupt halt, turning around to come face to face with a very irate Number XI, his scythe held out in front of him and a dangerous glint in his eyes.

"You shouldn't have done that, _sweetheart_ ," His voice dripped with venom as he leveled his scythe so that the tip of the sharpened blade was resting just below her jaw, "it's time that you learned your place, this Organization is made up of thirteen members, _thirteen!_ This isn't some club that lets just any one in, this isn't Organization fourteen and truthfully I don't expect you to last long here especially with your blatant disregard for those above you."

"Well your leader obviously saw potential in me otherwise he would have just left me out in the rain last night." She shot back defiantly, her jaw locked in determination.

"Why you insolent little-" Marluxia growled ferociously, his knuckles turning white around the shaft of his scythe.

Kiaxi ducked under his weapon, skirting around the thin man and running towards the end of the matted room so that she could have a bit of time to figure out what she was going to do.

Axel whistled, "Wow man, she's pretty fast."

Roxas nodded in agreement, he and his flame-haired best friend had taken up their previous positions of leaning up against the wall by the door to watch the fight.

"Why're you running? Scared of what I'm going to do to you once I catch you?" Marluxia taunted, "I promise to make it quick and painful."

"Don't you mean _painless_?"

"Don't be so optimistic, I'm not as merciful as some of the _other_ members."

He chased her around the entirety of the room before finally growing tired of their game of cat and mouse, he raised his scythe in the air and brought it down, lodging it in the wall and effectively trapping her. Kiaxi was stuck with the wall at her back, his scythe at her left, his arm at her right—he had successfully blocked her from escaping.

"Nowhere to run, love." Marluxia leaned in close to her, satisfaction lacing his every word at the thought of personally eliminating the newest member of the Organization.

Kiaxi could feel his hot breath ghosting across her cheeks and she turned her face away from him, ashamed in herself for having been caught so easily. There was nothing left to do except give up, if only she could just defend herself then she could show him….show him that she wasn't worthless and that she was brought in to the Organization for a reason. She had potential. She could fight him.

She shut her eyes tightly, waiting for the inevitable.

"Wow, this certainly is an interesting turn of events." Axel chuckled, "How does this make you feel, _Marly?_ "

Kiaxi warily opened her eyes, gasping in surprise at the sight of a long scythe resting in her left hand snugly. The shaft was of a dark amethyst color with dark magenta vines twisting around it all the way to the top of the weapon. At the top of it where the sharpened curved blade was located were triangular silver protrusions poking out the back of the shaft. The blade itself was cut out in the middle with magenta teeth-like mini-blades, glimmering beautifully and dangerously.

She chanced a glance up at Marluxia who had taken a few steps back when her weapon had been summoned and noticed that he looked absolutely livid. If he hated her before, he certainly loathed every fiber of her being now that she shared his choice of weapon.

Axel's uncontrollable laughter could be heard across the room, he found amusement in Marluxia's displeasure and she had to admit that the look on the pink-haired man's face was priceless. He regained his composure and growled, crouching in to an offensive position, Kiaxi mirrored his actions.

"Whoa whoa, orders were to just find out her weapon." Roxas stepped forward, waving his keyblade between the two of them, "Let's not get carried away, we'll save the fight for another day."

Marluxia's eyes narrowed into angry slits, bouncing back and forth between Roxas and Kiaxi before huffing loudly, "We'll finish this later, _girl_."

Roxas and Kiaxi followed Marluxia with their eyes as he flipped his feathered hair over his shoulder and opened up a portal of darkness, stepping inand disappearing in to the wispy vortex. Axel began to clap, pushing himself off the wall and striding towards the two Nobodies.

"That was quite a show, I thought it was over when he had you cornered there but you pulled through by summoning your weapon, congrats, you quite possibly have made Marluxia loathe you even more." Axel smirked, crossing his arms over his chest while his eyes danced across her in amusement.

She groaned, "I don't understand what his problem is. I literally did nothing to him and he's such an asshole to me."

"Don't worry about it, Marluxia is a jerk to everyone." Roxas shrugged.

"I've only been here a day and already it seems like his contempt for me by far outweighs his annoyance with everyone else, I swear he's out to get me." Kiaxi fiddled with the metal weapon in her hand as she spoke, turning it over and examining it, memorizing its every detail.

Roxas frowned, "Yeah, I haven't seen him this upset in a while but I guess that isn't saying much seeing as I haven't been here in the Organization that long either…"

"C'mon Roxas, we've got somewhere to be." Axel clapped his best friend on the back, "Have fun with whatever Kiaxi, don't get in to too much trouble while we're gone."

Roxas nodded, waving a brief goodbye to the last remaining Nobody in the room as he entered the portal of darkness that Axel had just created that would take them to Twilight Town. Kiaxi was left all alone in the training room, a cold chill ran up her spine.

"There you are! I've been searching the entire castle for ya, I thought I told you I would be back in an hour to get you?" Demyx burst in to the room, looking rather relieved at having found her, "That was like three hours ago, Ki!"

She bit her lip, "I'm sorry, Roxas came and got me so that we could find out what my weapon is."

At hearing that the water wielding Nobody perked up eagerly, practically bouncing on the heels of his feet in curiosity, "Yeah?"

Kiaxi held out the hand that her scythe was tightly gripped in, uncurling her fingers around it so that he could have a better look at the purple, silver, and magenta themed scythe. Demyx let out a low whistle.

"Wow, another scythe wielder? That's crazy, ya'know, Marluxia—"

"—has one too? Yeah, I found that out last night, he's actually the one that helped me summon it…" She bit back a grin at the face he was making, a mix between horror and incredulousness.

"What? He willingly helped you out?"

She laughed, "Ha, not exactly. More like…tried to kill me. Right when he had me cornered I was thinking about how I just wanted to stand up to him and then the next thing I knew I had this thing in my hand."

Demyx grinned, "Sounds crazy! What's its name?"

The amethyst eyed Nobody tilted her head to the side in confusion, "Name?"

He laughed, it was a bright and cheerful sound that melted away all the anxiety that she had previously been feeling.

"Yeah, like my sitar is Arpeggio," He held out his hand and in a flurry of bubbles appeared his blue water-based Sitar, "just close your eyes and picture it in your mind, then ask it its name."

Kiaxi made a face, was he for real? The thought of it sounded rather silly and she knew she was just making a fool of herself for complying, but it was just her and him in the room so there really was no harm in doing it. She slowly closed her eyes, picturing the long metal amethyst shaft with the magenta vines and the silver blade.

 _Er…I sound like an idiot but…what do I call you?_

No answer. Of course there'd be no answer, she was talking to an inanimate object, what had she expected? It to answer her?

 _Silent Enigma._ Flashed through her mind, her eyes fluttered open in shock to see Demyx standing inches away from her with a curious smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Well?" He urged.

She shook her head and smiled slowly, "It's called the Silent Enigma."

Demyx ran a hand through his hair and grinned, "Wow, pretty deep stuff."

Kiaxi laughed, deciding that even if he had woken her up far too early for her liking that morning, he was still a very likeable guy. She briefly concentrated on vanishing her weapon and in a flash it was gone, flexing her fingers she glanced up at the sandy-blonde haired boy.

"So…" He started, glancing around the room awkwardly, "I promised to show you around the castle, so let's get to it, yeah?"

He didn't give her much choice in the matter, grabbing her hand and pulling her out the door faster than her legs wanted to carry her.

* * *

Thank you so much for reading so far! I also want to thank those who reviewed last chapter, it really helped me get off my ass and finish this chapter lol!


	3. Chapter 3

She had only been a part of Organization XIII for a few days and still wasn't one hundred percent sure that she had made the right decision in joining the group, but for now she was taking it day by day. Kiaxi did her best to lay low and avoid Marluxia in the days following their encounter in the training room, luckily for her he seemed to be preoccupied with some upcoming mission and paid her no mind.

Kiaxi knew what her weapon was but still was unsure about her special ability or her lesser Nobodies (whatever those were) but each time she questioned Roxas he would only say that she'd find all of that out once she got out in the field. Yet, he wouldn't tell her _when_ she would be going out there like the rest of them, he had only danced around the question and told her that she needed to train more before she was ready for a real mission.

And so she trained, usually by herself but every once in a while Demyx or Roxas or sometimes even Axel would pop in and spar with her between their missions. On the days where she was alone she would alternate between practicing strength training and working on her speed by running laps.

She was beginning to feel frustrated, what was the point of welcoming her amongst their ranks if they were just going to keep her cooped up inside? How did Xemnas expect her to help him like this?

Her fist collided with the vinyl cover of the punching bag with a violent sounding _Thwack_!

"Your form's a little off, but otherwise nice hit." Axel's smooth voice drifted over to her from the doorway where he was perched up against the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest and his signature smirk plastered on his face.

She cast a glance over her shoulder at him, "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. It would help if I actually had a training partner instead of figuring things out on my own."

"Well today's your lucky day."

The young Nobody narrowed her eyes suspiciously, turning her body to give him her full attention, "What do you mean?"

The crimson haired man shrugged his shoulders, "You're coming with me to Twilight Town for a little recon."

Her eyes stayed locked with his for another moment before her pale, pink lips slowly began to twitch into a grin, "Are you serious? I finally get to get out of this stuffy castle?"

Axel rolled his eyes, "Don't get too excited, it's just recon. Something easy, and not to mention _boring_ , to get your feet wet."

The slate haired Nobody paused in her celebratory stance, head tilted, "We're going swimming?"

A low groan escaped his lips and he fought the urge to smack his forehead with the palm of his hand. Seriously, how did he get stuck with taking the newbie out on her first mission? Roxas was lucky that he had a full plate this week when it came to missions.

"It's a figure of speech." He explained slowly, lips pressed into a thin line, "It means that it's an easy mission to get you used to the basic workload and responsibilities that come with going out and fulfilling your duties to the Organization."

 _Jeez, where did Superior find this one?_ He thought to himself, annoyed. He tried to remind himself that Roxas was the same way when he first arrived—naïve. But patience was not one of his virtues and he would have to try extra hard to keep his cool and answer any question she may have during their trip, or else he'd be getting an earful from Saix later and he would prefer to avoid that conversation.

Kiaxi's lips formed an 'o' at his explanation before eagerly grabbing her black cloak from where she had discarded it over the bars of a weight set.

"Well, either way I'm just happy I'm getting out and can breathe some fresh air for once."

She donned her cloak, pulling the zipper up to just above her chest. At first she had been skeptical of this bulky looking cloak, it didn't seem very practical at all but was surprised with how light it actually felt when worn and how easily the fabric moved with her.

Axel rolled his eyes impatiently before lifting his arm with his palm outstretched, a vortex of various swirling colors sparked to life before them. Kiaxi was still amazed at how easily the others were able to summon portals of darkness, she had yet to be taught this useful trick. To be honest, she hadn't been taught much since she had arrived, but she was hoping that was all about to change. She wanted to feel useful.

"Well are you coming, or are you just going to stand there gawking awkwardly?" His sarcasm didn't even register with her as she hurried into the portal out of fear of being left behind.

It was just as she had remembered it, except a little less awkward because she was with Axel and not Xemnas this time. A myriad of colors danced around her and she squinted her eyes to try and pick out imaginary shapes in the constantly changing hues. It took her a moment to realize that the crimson haired man was already ahead of her by quite a distance and she had to jog to catch up to him.

"So…does this mean that I'll regularly be going on missions now too?" She piped up from beside him.

He glanced down at her from the corner of his eye before focusing his attention back on the path before him, "Could be."

She could take a hint, he wasn't much of a conversationalist, so she decided to save her questions for when they arrived at their destination. The scenery, after a few minutes, began to bore her as it all just melted together and she grew antsy with anticipation of visiting her first new world. It came as a great relief when Axel stretched out his palm and opened up their doorway to the next world and strode through, Kiaxi eagerly following on his heels.

They arrived in shadowy back alleyway, the slate-haired Nobody stepped out from behind Axel and quickened her pace until she was at the opening of the alley. Before her was a sleepy little village, several townspeople milled about aimlessly, oblivious to the two strange newcomers who had emerged from behind one of the shops.

"Wow, it's so…" Kiaxi stepped out onto the cobblestone street, taking in the buildings, flyers posted on the walls, and people around her, "…cute!"

The crimson haired man rolled his eyes at her childlike demeanor, "Stop gawking, you're wasting time."

It was now her turn to roll her eyes, she was about to respond when she felt a strong force pull her back, she stumbled and fell back against his chest. Confused, she pulled herself away from him, "What was that about?"

"You need to watch yourself, I just saved you from becoming a pancake." He motioned to the trolley that had just passed by, rumbling over the cobblestone that she had stood moments before.

Feeling incredibly sheepish, she offered an apologetic smile, "Right, sorry. Guess I should pay better attention to my surroundings. It won't happen again."

"It better not." He huffed, acting as if saving her had been an incredible inconvenience to him.

She watched him for a moment, this was her first time out of the castle since the night Xemnas had found her and she didn't want to screw everything up so bad that they never let her out again. No, she would have to stop acting like a child and be more serious for this mission.

"So…what exactly do we do on recon missions?" She piped up from beside him as they started walking away from the Tram Common.

"Basically just examine your surroundings and make sure to note anything that seems a little weird or off. This mission in particular is just a test mission, you won't find anything that we haven't already found here in Twilight Town but Saix thought this would be the easiest place for you to learn how to do recon, so have at it." Axel gestured vaguely to their surroundings, she wasn't quite sure what she was supposed to be looking for though.

"Well, for starters…" She began to speak, noticing his emerald eyes land on her with mild-interest, "the tram drivers have no regard for human life. I mean what would they have done if I had been squashed to death? They certainly didn't stop or slow down while I was in the middle of the tracks, they just kept on going—"

Axel sighed, seemingly annoyed but she caught the subtle twitch of the corners of his lips that signified his amusement, "Okay, maybe I wasn't actually clear with my instructions. Reconnaissance is especially necessary when a new world pops up, someone needs to go and explore it and report back so that later on if the need arises for us to go fight there we will actually know what we are doing and not get lost or caught off guard by our surroundings." He pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes closed, "So, just tell me about the area around you. This is your first time here in this world, what did you notice first?"

A contemplative frown tugged at her pale lips, what had she noticed upon arrival?

"Oh! There were a lot of different shops and with the tram running through the middle of everything I'd probably venture to say that that was the center of town." Axel didn't respond to her at all, making her a little anxious so she began to wander to try and find something that might impress him.

She stopped at the base of a steep hill, eyes wide as she stared up the paved street, her calves hurt just from thinking about walking up at such an angle.

"Anything?" Axel's arms were crossed over his chest nonchalantly.

Kiaxi bit her lip and scrunched up her nose in thought, amethyst eyes danced from the road before her to the surrounding ones before she noticed a common factor, "The town was built on a hill, all the roads are rather steep and it looks like a lot of the buildings were also constructed at an angle to make up for it."

He chuckled, "Not bad, according to Vexen he had to practically spell it out to Roxas when he was on his first recon mission here."

She blinked, from the sounds of it this place was used as a training ground for newer members. From the looks of it there wasn't anything too spectacular about the town and they hadn't run into anything out of the ordinary so maybe it was one of the safer worlds in comparison to the others.

Kiaxi glanced up and was caught off guard, her breath hitched in her throat. The sky was such a brilliant mix of orange, pink, purple, and yellow. She didn't even know that the sky could even be in such beautiful colors like that, the sky back home was only ever black and mostly starless, not much to look at. But here, Twilight Town as Axel had called it, it was absolutely mesmerizing, she found herself caught in the moment and didn't even hear as her companion cleared his throat to get her attention.

Axel groaned, she was standing there staring up at the sky like an idiot with her mouth wide open, it was as if she was seeing the sky for the first time—oh. A small sigh escaped his parted lips as he realized that she _was_ seeing the sunset for the first time since becoming a Nobody.

"Seeing it from that angle doesn't do it any justice." He commented, catching her attention.

She tilted her head and sent him a quizzical look, "What do you mean? It looks pretty amazing from where I'm standing."

He chuckled, "You say that now, but let me show you a better view."

Before she could respond to him a strange sound caught her attention, she wasn't sure what it was but when she cast a glance towards Axel she saw that he had now summoned his chakrams and was crouched into an offensive position. Following suit, she held out her left hand, in a flash she felt that familiar cool metal shaft between her fingers and she tightened her grip on the weapon.

Darkness pooled on the ground ahead of them and out of the rippling shadows rose creatures she had never seen before. Their skin was inky black, crooked antennae twitched from the tops of their heads, they stood as tall as an average man and had bright, glowing yellow eyes.

"So…that's new." She frowned, biting her lip.

"It's a Neo Shadow, a type of Heartless." Axel answered. She had heard about Heartless from various Organization members over that last few days, but she didn't know that there were different kinds of them. She was learning all sorts of new things today while out in the field.

The Heartless swayed to and fro, almost as if they were intoxicated, then suddenly they lurched forward and scurried towards them. She felt herself tense up and cast a quick glance in Axel's direction, he didn't seem all that bothered by the impending battle, in fact, he was smirking. Seeing him so at ease made her relax just a bit, if he wasn't worried then she shouldn't be either, right?

"Stay sharp, kid." His eyes stayed focused on the Heartless ambling towards them, but she caught him glancing at her from the corners of his eyes. She nodded, unsure if he saw her gesture or not, he seemed satisfied though and leapt forward gracefully, swinging his arms and assaulting two of the Neo Shadows with a barrage of attacks with his chakrams.

He made it look so easy.

Swallowing her unease, Kiaxi ran towards the closest Heartless with her scythe poised above her head. Once she was close enough to the creature she swung her arm in a wide arc, bringing the sharp blade down on the unsuspecting Neo Shadow. The creature let out an ear-piercing screech before bursting into small wisps of shadow and fading away.

"Nice job." Axel commented as he decimated yet another Heartless.

The only problem was that each time one was destroyed another two rushed into existence to take its place, it seemed like a never-ending cycle and she just wasn't experienced enough to handle the amount of enemies coming at her at once. Luckily, Axel seemed in his element and happily took out multitudes of Heartless while she worked on fighting one or two at a time.

She paused when his compliment reached her, her lips twitched and formed a smile at the praise but her excitement was short lived as she felt sharp claws dig into her calf. A startled gasp escaped her lips as she quickly glanced down to see a smaller version of the Neo Shadow digging into her flesh. Kiaxi stumbled backwards, kicking the creature off of her and swiping at it with her weapon, slicing it clean in half.

"These things are persistent." She grumbled, her breathing was a little ragged from the exertion of the fight and she was beginning to grow tired.

A strange Heartless clad in what appeared to be Knight's armor clambered towards her clumsily, his feet clanking noisily with each step towards her.

"You'd think they were after our hearts," Axel let out a chuckle, "stupid things don't even realize that we don't have hearts to lose."

"Yeah..." _Stupid_. She mumbled, dodging out of the way as the Neo Soldier made a mad grab for her. She stumbled a little but gained her footing again rather quickly, she was starting to get the hang of fighting these things. She swung her leg around quickly and delivered a powerful kick to the torso of the Heartless, sending it flying backwards. The slate-haired nobody ran forward, extending her arm and striking the clanky Heartless with her scythe. It disappeared.

"Looks like that's the last of them." The crimson haired Nobody appeared beside her, he hadn't even broken a sweat, she noticed. Meanwhile, she knew that she looked like a mess—her slate blue hair was plastered against her face and she could feel her undershirt beneath her cloak soaked through with sweat.

He stared down at her for a moment, emerald eyes alight with amusement at her disheveled appearance. He shoved his hand deep into his coat pocket, feeling around before procuring a glass vial filled with a green liquid, "Here, take this."

Amethyst eyes curiously landed on the object that he was offering her, hesitantly she reached out and grasped the vial in her own hands and stared at the sloshing liquid inside.

"Well don't just stand there," Axel rolled his eyes impatiently, "Drink up."

Not wanting to upset him she popped the cork out and brought the vessel to her lips, taking a cautious swig. It tasted bitter but had a minty aftertaste, she quickly downed the rest of the contents and could feel it taking effect almost immediately. She was no longer sore, the wound on her leg began to close up, and she felt almost revitalized.

Glancing back up at her companion she asked, "What was that?"

"It was a potion, they're pretty great for when you start feeling your energy drain. I advise that you stock up before your next mission."

She nodded, pocketing the empty vial, she would throw it away when they returned to the castle.

"It's getting late, I say we call it." He motioned for her to follow him, "Oh, that's right. I said I'd show you a better view of the sky, didn't I? Well, I'm a man of my word, let's go."

His stride was long and purposeful, much quicker than hers and she had to half-jog to keep in step with him. Kiaxi was eager to see what he had meant. A moment later a portal of darkness opened before them with a _whoosh_ and in stepped Axel, she was hot on his heels.

The journey through the corridors of darkness wasn't a long one she noticed and wondered if it was because their destination was within the same world they had just been in. As they exited she felt her breath hitch in her throat, her amethyst eyes wide.

"See? I told you it was better."

She didn't answer him, simply nodding her head mutely before shuffling towards the edge of the Clock Tower, standing on the precipice and staring out at the unobstructed sky before her. The sun was setting and the colors streaking across the sky were brilliant shades of orange, red, pink, and yellow; a stark contrast to the sky she had come accustomed to seeing through her bedroom window that was for sure.

"You weren't kidding." She commented, still in a daze.

He chuckled, but otherwise didn't say anything and just took a seat on the edge of the tower, his legs dangling over the side. At some point she too took a seat and continued to stare, unblinking at the setting sun, the two of them just enjoying the silence between them and the myriad of colors making their way across the sky.

Once the colors of the setting sun began to recede into the purples and blues of nightfall Axel stretched his arms high above his head and yawned, "Well I'm beat, time to head back."

Kiaxi glanced over at him before pulling herself to her feet, "Thank you."

He shot her a confused look, "For what?"

"For taking me to see the sunset." She answered simply.

Axel's lips formed a lopsided grin and he waved off her comment, "Don't mention it."

* * *

How exciting, her first mission! Though I guess technically she never finished it because of the heartless but whatever lol. At some point, she will discover her ability/element, it just didn't seem like the right time to squeeze it in here.

I'm eager to get this story rolling, I have so many ideas for chapters in the middle of the story but it's just getting to that point that's annoying lmao.

 **Kaia (guest)** – Marluxia definitely would have killed her right then and there if her scythe sliced through his family jewels and that would have made this the shortest story I've ever written with just two chapters, haha! But it's such a funny thought LOL! Thank you so much for reviewing (:


	4. Chapter 4

Kiaxi stood in front of the floor length mirror that she had recently procured and placed in her room, admiring her growing biceps. She had been on several missions since her first reconnaissance mission with Axel and was still astounded by just how different the other members were with their teaching methods. Thankfully she had yet to go on a mission with Marluxia or Larxene, she suspected that Axel and Roxas had spoken to Saix and let him know about her shaky relationship with the two but she couldn't be too sure. All she knew was that she was thankful that she had been going out with everyone but those two.

She had gone on a recon mission with Vexen and despite the fact that his personality was as cold as his element she had surprisingly learned a lot from the scientist. Though, admittedly, she could have done without his condescending remarks.

Another mission had been with Lexaeus, he was a man of few words, but the silence between them had been amicable. She had previously heard less than favorable things about him and his methods from Roxas but from what she had experienced herself he wasn't a terrible guy. They had gone on a mission targeting a type of heartless, he was a great fighter though his movements were much slower than her own but what he lacked in speed he made up for in strength.

She was starting to get the hang of things and had even been taught how to summon dark portals, probably her favorite and most useful trick learned thus far. Despite her tremendous improvements, she still wasn't trusted enough to go on missions alone and still required a chaperone. She wasn't even allowed to summon a portal unless someone was with her, it was utter bullshit but she kept her complaints to a minimum.

A swift knock against her door pulled her out of her thoughts.

She shuffled across the room and pulled open her door to see Roxas standing on the other side, his lips upturned in a smile at seeing her.

"Good morning, Kiaxi." He took in her appearance, noting that she was already dressed in her cloak and boots, "You ready for today's mission?"

Her head bobbed eagerly, "I am, this'll be the first mission I've had with you since joining and you're supposed to be my mentor, "She teased before adding, "they sure keep you busy."

A chuckle escaped his lips, "Well, you're not wrong."

The blond had, in fact, been increasingly busy since Kiaxi had arrived at the castle. His duties as a Keybearer in the Organization were never done it seemed; they constantly wanted him out collecting hearts for their ultimate goal.

"Where are we going today?" She asked, watching as he flicked his wrist and summoned a portal in the hallway for the two of them.

He glanced over his shoulder at her as she stepped into the portal after him, "A place called Agrabah."

* * *

She hated Agrabah.

Well, it wasn't so much that she hated the world itself, but she hated that Roxas had not told her to prepare for the immense heat or the sand that would invade her lungs each time she took a breath.

They had only been there for a mere ten minutes and even though they were in the heart of the city, surrounded by mud brick walls, the wind still carried grains of sand that stung at her eyes.

"Where are we going?" She huffed, turning to the side to spit the sand out of her mouth.

Roxas turned to examine her for the first time since they arrived, grinning widely before chuckling, "I'm sorry, the wind and sand weren't this bad the last time I was here. We are actually going out into the desert—"

She stared at him wide eyed for a moment before frowning, "If it's this shitty here then don't you think it's going to be ten times worse out there?" She gestured wildly towards the large archway that separated the town from the wide expanse of the sea of sand outside.

He hummed in contemplation, sapphire eyes scanning the various vendor stalls around them, "You're right, we need something to protect our faces…or at least make breathing a little more tolerable…" His eyes landed on one merchant in particular and he shuffled towards the stall, Kiaxi followed after him curiously.

"Hello, how much for two of these?"

The merchant was a thin, dark skinned man who had a wide grin plastered on his face, "Good afternoon! These scarves are made from very fine, very rare materials and usually go for a pretty penny." He eyed Roxas before shifting his gaze to Kiaxi, "Though for the cute couple I'm willing to let these go for four hundred munny."

The girl frowned, stumbling back a step at the implication that she and Roxas were a couple but with one quick glance in his direction she noticed that he wasn't bothered, or more likely just simply chose to ignore the comment.

"I'll give you two-fifty for both." Roxas counter-offered.

The man seemed rather ruffled by that, leaning over the stall towards Roxas, "Three-hundred, that is the lowest I will go. These are very fine, rare materials and I will not part with them for less than three-hundred."

The blond shrugged and began to walk away, "Well, I guess I'll just have to go purchase from a different merchant."

Feeling panicked at the thought of losing a sale the man shouted over the commotion of the bazaar, "Two-fifty is a fair price that I will accept. I will even throw in a lovely jade bracelet for the lady."

Roxas' lips twitched into a small smirk which he quickly replaced with a thoughtful frown as he turned back around, "Alright, deal." He fished the munny out of his cloak pocket and handed it to the merchant who greedily snatched it out of the boy's gloved hand, eagerly counting it to make sure it was all there.

"Pleasure doing business with you, sir."

The blond Nobody nodded his head, grabbing the two scarves and the bracelet off the table, motioning for Kiaxi to follow him.

"Didn't take you for a haggler." She mused from beside him.

The boy shrugged, "Even I could recognize that he was trying to scam us, I wasn't going to pay him that much for these thin pieces of fabric."

"I guess that's fair." She chuckled as he handed her the bracelet and one of the scarves.

Her scarf was soft to the touch and for a moment she wondered whether the peddler had been telling the truth when he said they were made from rare and expensive fabrics. It wasn't thick or bulky, the material was thin and would be easy for them to breathe through to filter out the sand when out in the desert. Her fingers glided over the dark purple fabric briefly before bringing it up to her face, tying it around her neck in a way that she would easily be able to pull it up to cover her nose and mouth.

"You ready?" Roxas' voice was slightly muffled by the navy scarf that was already covering his nose and mouth.

She nodded, pulling hers up to protect herself just like he had done, "Lead the way."

* * *

It felt like they had been trudging through the sand for hours, when in fact it probably had only been closer to forty-five minutes. The harsh rays of the sun were unbearably hot, beating down against their backs. Their black cloaks were thankfully made of special material that regulated the temperature on the inside to keep them from being boiled alive.

The wind was dry and thick with sand that whipped against them, pulling their bodies this way and that. Twice, Kiaxi had lost sight of Roxas amidst the sandstorm and nearly panicked until the sight of his black clad form came back into view. From then on she made sure to stick close by him out of fear of being left behind.

"What exactly are we looking for?" She asked finally after realizing that there was nothing but sand and more sand for as far as the eye could see.

"There's supposedly a really strong heartless out here and that's our target." He sighed, "We just….have to find it first."

She let out a groan. It could literally be _anywhere_ and the chances of them finding it were—

"Shit!" Kiaxi yelped, startled, as she fell into a hole that she had failed to notice.

"You alright?" Roxas peered down at her.

She stared up at him and nodded before taking a look around, "Yeah but…it almost looks like a tunnel...like it was just dug out here in the middle of nowhere. How strange."

Suddenly the sand around her began to shift and suddenly a large hairy leg emerged from down the dark tunnel, followed by another. She scrambled to climb back out of the hole, Roxas reached in and helped to pull her out at the last minute, narrowly avoiding being snatched by two large pincers.

The creature rose from the sand with a loud screech, clicking its pincers together hungrily as it stared down at the two with hundreds of beady little eyes.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is the target?" She bit her lip, staring up at the spider behemoth shaking off the waves of golden sand.

Roxas nodded his head mechanically, the creature was _a_ _lot_ bigger than he thought it would be, it was almost intimidating.

The spider was as large as a skyscraper, it's furry body a dark brown with the Heartless insignia etched in red on its underside. Its red, beady eyes zeroed in on the two and it began to skitter forward.

"Look sharp, here it comes!" Roxas called out over the sound of the Heartless' legs pounding against the ground towards them.

They silently agreed to both run in different directions, hoping to confuse the creature. It began to chase after Kiaxi, its eight legs thundering against the golden granules beneath their feet. The young Nobody cried out in frustration as she chanced a glance over her shoulder to see the beast quickly gaining on her. There was no way that she could run from something so large and so fast.

Roxas darted forward, leaping into the air and slashing at the back of the creature with a loud grunt. The spider was completely unfazed by the attack, further frustrating Roxas that he hadn't even cut through the exoskeleton.

"Might wanna hurry up, I can't outrun this thing!" She called out as a giant hairy leg suddenly blocked her path and she had to zigzag around it and run in the opposite direction to avoid the beast's pincers again.

Roxas scowled, "Working on it."

Each time the boy struck the Heartless it was as if he were a gnat, buzzing around the beast but not making any sort of headway with landing any actual damage.

Darkness began to pool around the creature and out of the shadows smaller versions of the spider sprung to life, skittering in all directions.

"Greeaat." Kiaxi groaned, drawing out the word as she saw the extra enemies dart out of the shadows and towards her.

Suddenly, one of Roxas' Samurai Nobodies materialized and began to attack the smaller Heartless. She glanced over her shoulder at the blond, watching him land blow after blow without so much as putting a dent in the spider's defenses.

Distracted by her partner, Kiaxi had no time to react as a group of three Spider Heartless surrounded her, all of them leaping at once to attack. She brandished her scythe to swing but was stunned when another creature joined the fray to attack the enemies that threatened her.

"Congrats, you finally summoned your lesser Nobodies." Roxas grunted as he made a wide swing at one of the legs, watching as it buckled from the blow and the spider staggered forward a little. His eyes widened in realization as he found the weak spot.

Kiaxi stared, wide eyed, at the newest addition to their team. Her lesser Nobodies were hooded figures with no real distinguishable features, truthfully they reminded her of the Grim Reaper from those human fairytales. They were cloaked in black, the hood covering where their faces would have been if they had one, she couldn't see past the hood to confirm whether they had one or not though. The sleeves were long and billowed out at the ends, protruding from the sleeves were sharpened scythes which took the place of arms. The Nobodies hovered above the ground, no feet or additional appendages could be seen, they were like phantoms.

Their lesser Nobodies swiftly handled the small fry, giving the two a slight advantage and allowing them both to focus their attention on the real enemy.

"It's the legs, Kiaxi!" Roxas called out as he let loose his fury on one leg in particular until it snapped with a sickening _crack_. The spider let out a pained screech and began to thrash about, stomping its remaining seven legs wildly and snapping its jaws.

She nodded in affirmation, running forward to finally join the fight. She was quick, her reflexes having been honed during her days spent in the training room, and now that she wasn't acting as a distraction she could focus on helping Roxas defeat the creature.

"If we each take a different leg at a time we should kill this thing in no time." She mentioned, glancing over at the blond boy to see him nod in agreement.

Almost as if sensing the impending doom, the spider summoned more of its minions but they were quickly met with the blades of the Samurai and Reapers.

Another leg gave way, breaking free from the body and falling unceremoniously onto the sand beneath it. Roxas smirked triumphantly as the Spider cried out, wiggling its nub.

Kiaxi swung hard, as her blade made contact with one of the legs a small stream of smoke began to billow from the wound, followed by a sizzling sound. She watched in astonishment as the flesh began to melt away and drop off.

"What…?" She stared in wonder at the damage she had done, eyes wide in bewilderment. Suddenly a hand gripped her wrist and yanked her back, she stumbled and fell, landing hard on her behind, "Wh-what was that for?" She rubbed her sore bottom and pulled herself back to her feet, shooting a look in Roxas' direction.

He met her stare with an annoyed look of his own, "Never lose focus like that again when you're in the middle of a fight. That thing almost stomped you to death. Pay attention."

She winced at his harsh words but couldn't exactly say that they weren't unwarranted. He was right, she was too easily distracted and that could mean the difference between life and death. She was lucky that he was here to pull her out of her thoughts, just like Axel had been on her first mission.

"Right, sorry." The slate-haired Nobody frowned, shame painting her cheeks a bright red and she was thankful for the scarf for hiding that from her partner.

By now the Heartless had started to scurry away, now aware that it was fighting a losing battle and deciding to leave with what legs it had left. Roxas let out a low growl and began his pursuit after it, determined to not let it get away.

Kiaxi took off after the blond and their target, her short legs pounding against the ground, spraying granules of sand in her wake. Her speed allowed her to catch up to the beast much quicker than Roxas despite his head start and she set to work, hacking away at the leg she had previously injured. It didn't take long for that appendage to disconnect from the body and the spider was then left with five working legs.

In a last-ditch effort to save itself, the Spider started to dig. Dig to where, Kiaxi had no idea. Maybe it thought that if it buried itself they would give up and leave it to nurse its wounds. Regardless of the thoughts of a mindless beast, the two Nobodies had no such intention of letting it get away. Their assignment was clear; destroy the Heartless and return its heart to Kingdom Hearts.

She closed her eyes and willed her Reapers to come forth once more to aid them. The beings drew from her power and appeared from wispy portals of darkness, quickly realizing their target and using their corrosive powers to melt the flesh of the Spider's legs much like Kiaxi had done.

Roxas caught up, noticing the lesser Nobodies and Kiaxi working together to take out the remaining legs, his lips twitched appreciatively, and he raised his Keyblade to strike again.

With their combined efforts Roxas and Kiaxi quickly disposed of the Heartless, it collapsed against the dunes with a screech before bursting into dust and relinquishing a giant, red floating heart.

"Good job!" She dismissed her Reapers and turned on her heel to face her partner, a wide grin painted on her face beneath her scarf.

"Good job yourself." Roxas countered with a smile of his own, "And look at you, discovering your lesser Nobodies and your element during the fight. I'd say this mission was a success, wouldn't you?"

She nodded before blanching at a thought, "You know, if I didn't hate spiders before I definitely do now."

The Keyblade wielder chuckled, "Yeah, can't say they're my favorite and that one took a lot longer than expected to beat."

Her head snapped up at his comment, lips down turned in a frown, "Listen, I'm really so—"

"Don't worry about it." Roxas quickly interjected with a sigh, "I'm sorry I yelled at you. I know you're new and you were just confused about your new ability and all that."

"Thank you."

"Of course, now let's get back. I don't know about you but I'm exhausted."

* * *

As soon as the portal opened into the hallways of the Castle that Never Was the sandy blond-haired boy, Demyx, had ambushed the two with a mischievous grin.

"Heya, hope you don't mind me borrowing Ki for the rest of the night!" He didn't give Roxas the chance to respond before his fingers wrapped loosely around her wrist and he tugged her into a portal of his own making.

Once inside he let go of her and began humming some upbeat, nameless tune as he strolled onward through the corridors of darkness.

Momentarily dazed by his odd behavior, Kiaxi took a moment to watch his retreating form before jogging to catch up with him, "What was that all about?"

He peeked over at her through half-lidded eyes, a secretive smile etched on his youthful face, "You'll see."

His cryptic comment did nothing to ease her mind, but she trusted Demyx and felt as if he was the last person in the Organization who would lead her towards danger. With that thought in mind she fell into step beside him and listened to whatever song it was that he was humming, deciding to enjoy the trek through the darkness.

The sitar wielder's eyes snapped open and his arm slowly lifted from his side, summoning their exit. His lips pulled back into a wide grin and he gestured for her to go first, "Ladies first."

A small laugh escaped her as she walked past him and stepped out into the bright sunlight awaiting her on the other side of the portal. Her boots sunk a little in the sand and for a moment she feared that she was back in the desert outside of Agrabah but the sound of waves crashing against the shore quickly relieved her of that thought.

They were standing on the shore of a small islet, surrounded by water so crystal clear that she could see the sandy bottom for quite a ways away. The salty ocean breeze brushed by them, playfully tangling through her slate blue hair.

"Isn't this place great? I found it recently while doing recon and I just had to share it with you." Demyx bounced excitedly on his heels, his seafoam eyes alight.

A bright smile graced her lips and she nodded, "Yeah, it's beautiful, Dem."

"I'm so glad you think so!" He quickly unzipped his long black coat and discarded it onto the sand before starting on the laces of his boots.

Somewhat startled by his actions, Kiaxi stuttered, "W-what're you doing?"

As if sensing her unease, he sent her a reassuring smile, "Relax, it's just really hot out and I'm not trying to cook myself here on the beach."

He was right. Though the temperature wasn't as extreme as the desert had been, it was rather humid and a light sheen of sweat was beginning to form on her forehead. She scrambled to remove her coat and boots while Demyx laughed, left in just a tank top with his black jeans rolled up to his knees.

Now just left in her black t-shirt with her jeans rolled up as far as they'd go, she turned to face Demyx, watching in amusement as he dug his toes into the soft sands and wiggled them. A contagious grin spread across his lips and soon Kiaxi was also digging her toes into the wet sand, mimicking his movements.

A sudden thought struck her, "Say, Demyx?"

"Hm?" He glanced over at her.

"Why did you decide to show me this world?"

He didn't even hesitate, "Well, we're friends, right? I thought that since Axel and Roxas have that Clocktower thing that maybe this could be our place."

A sudden warmth radiated from within her at his words, he was just so genuine and made her feel happy. Or perhaps it was just the remnant of the memory of feeling happy, since they supposedly were incapable of actually feeling true emotions. But whatever it was that she was experiencing…she liked it, it was soothing.

"Yeah, I'd like that."

He beamed at her answer and the two friends turned towards the ocean, watching as the sun slowly made its descent beyond the horizon, painting the sky in soft pinks and oranges.

* * *

This took a lot longer to write than I have originally anticipated. The main reason is because work is killing me right now, we've been down a person and so I've have to work a lot of overtime without many days off so when I do get home from work I pretty much just go to bed lmao.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I have many many more to come, hopefully the next one won't take as long to get out. Thank you for reading! If you could leave a review and let me know your thoughts that would be so amazing! Thank you again!


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